NEWS FROM HQ

Serving the Lord in Kenya

November, 2021

Greetings, dear coworkers, in the Name of the Lord.    

Who will go to serve? 

        This year I have felt so busy and I must admit that the days are really flying by so fast. It is mainly because of the busy schedule at the Bible College of East Africa (BCEA). This academic year, all educational institutions in Kenya must run one additional term on top of the normal three terms per year. It is designed to compensate for the study missed out on last year due to COVID 19. Likewise, BCEA and its affiliated kindergartens had to do the same. That has made everyone, both teachers and students busy, in order to make up those missed terms and to hold a graduation service on October 8. It was held outdoors. Everyone had to wear masks, and the number of guests was limited. The whole program lasted only about an hour. About 20 students graduated this time and headed to their respective places. There, they will get involved in different ministries.

How do they serve?

        I know a BCEA graduate who graduated even before I came to Kenya. I met Pastor O as I conducted VBS for children some years back in Maasai land. He is not a Maasai but a Kisii (from the tribe of Kisii) and been sent there by Rev. Mark Kim as new churches had been planted in that area. He had to learn the Maasai language, culture, and life on the land. When he got married to a lady from his same tribe, his wife followed him to the Maasai land. They had been serving together for many years when he was found to have tumour in his brain. The case was so serious that he was losing his eye sight. Rev. Kim sought help and was able to send Pastor O to Korea for an operation. However, there was little hope.

        However, thanks be to God that his operation was done successfully. This news struck my heart. I thought “well… he lives longer, maybe because of his calling to serve.” So I was not surprised at the news that when he returned to Kenya following his operation in Korea, he returned to Maasai land directly, and not to his hometown in Kisii! Pastor O is serving in Maasai land to this very day. Though his name is not known to the world, I believe that he is a genuine servant of God’s kingdom.

Where do they serve?

       When I was invited by Rev. Kim to visit the ministry in Rwanda, I hesitated because of the VBS experience I had a few years ago. At that time, nearly a thousand children came for VBS, and I had only ten teachers with very limited facilities. It was so tough that I ended up falling sick. So, whenever I hear about the ministry in Rwanda, that memory comes back. However “obedience is better than sacrifice.” I made up my mind and visited the field. For this seven-day visit, there was no structured schedule. With such flexibility, I looked around the ministry, (the college, church and kindergarten), and was able to visit the members of the campus church.

        The incident that most captured my heart’s attention was the funeral of a girl, 16 years old. After a quarrel with her neighbor, she was stabbed to death with a knife. What?? That was too young to die, and too miserable to die that way! Rev. Kim preached at the funeral service at a cemetery on the foot of a steep hill. I saw the small coffin buried into the soil, a crowd of poor people sobbing their hearts out, with yellow wild flowers growing between wooden crosses with names on them. I felt so sorry for the people living such a poverty-stricken, conflict-filled life. They live just near the BCEA Rwanda campus. On Sunday, they climb hills (Rwanda is known as a country of a thousand hills) and pass through the valleys on their way to Sunday service at the campus church. “When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.” (Matt. 9:36-37)

        Dear friends, thank you for your prayers and support for the ministry of the Bible College of East Africa. Please continue praying for BCEA graduates, that they will be used for the kingdom of God in the place where they are called to serve. 

                                                                                                                                       In His service,

                                                                                                                                       Bai, Eun Young